MENTALLY ill teenagers and children are becoming "extremely ill" before they are offered psychiatric support, campaigners have warned, amid fears that patients are routinely diverted to other services to "ease the burden" on failing waiting lists.

The warning comes after a teenager from Bathgate in West Lothian revealed that he had spent a year trying to get mental health treatment on the NHS for crippling insomnia and hallucinations before eventually turning to A&E when he became suicidal.

Gordon Edwards, 17, said he wanted to raise awareness of the desperation faced by some young people in need of psychiatric support after he was knocked back three times from the waiting list for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. He believes young people are routinely "bumped off" to other NHS services to keep already overstretched CAMHS waiting lists down.

He added: "I had to be suicidal just to get help. The stress of it was unbelievable."

Mr Edwards moved from Lancashire in England to Bathgate last July to live with his mother. He had previously been treated as an inpatient in Lancashire after suffering suicidal thoughts and had a CAMHS care plan in place, with an allocated psychiatrist and community psychiatric nurse.

On moving to West Lothian, he was referred to the local CAMHS service after he developed obsessive delusions about being a police officer. The referral was rejected, however, and he was discharged. In December 2016, he was referred again after the delusions continued and he also began suffering audio and visual hallucinations, which included hearing voices, seeing a dead cat on his bed, and believing Prime Theresa May was in his house. He had also developed anxiety about bathing and severe sleep deprivation. However, he was again turned down for the CAMHS waiting list and offered a referral to a supported employment service instead.

In May this year, a third referral resulted in an assessment by a clinical psychologist who initially agreed to place Mr Edwards on the CAMHS waiting list for anxiety management and a neuro-psychological assessment. However, he said this was subsequently dropped and he was told by the mental health team that they "didn't think it would be useful and they needed to manage their resources".

In June, he became suicidal and was finally prescribed melatonin, a sleep drug, after going to A&E. He said the medication has “made a world of difference”, but the root mental health problems are still going untreated.

Mr Edwards said: "People with more serious conditions than mine are going to be turned away and end up taking their own lives. That why I want to raise awareness of this. I want the Scottish Government to intervene and start doing something."

Mental health campaigners said Mr Edwards' case underlined the "incredible pressure" facing youth mental health services, which receive just 0.5 per cent of NHS funding.

Sophie Pilgrim, director of advocacy group, Kindred, said: "The 'bar' on admission to psychiatric inpatient care is certainly far higher for children and young people than for adults. In other words, our children and young people have to be extremely ill to access the most specialist services.”

Kenny Graham from Falkland House School, which educates boys with additional support needs, said: “Referring children and young people to other services to try and ease the burden on CAMHS may ultimately prove to be inappropriate to their needs. This means that their conditions often worsen and they are then referred to CAMHS, requiring more intensive care and support, at a greatly increased cost to the NHS."

It comes as NHS Lothian battles with the worst CAMHS performance in Scotland, with average waiting times of 20 weeks, compared to 12 a year ago and seven in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Maureen Watt, Minister for Mental Health, said the Scottish Government is aware of Mr Edwards' case and has raised concerns with NHS Lothian. She said the Scottish Government would also be commissioning a review in the high numbers of rejected referrals across CAMHS in Scotland.

She added: "Our new, ambitious, Mental Health Strategy sets out how we can improve early intervention, have better access to services and better responses in primary care settings. We have doubled the number of child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) psychology posts and are investing an extra £150 million in mental health over five years."

Professor Alex McMahon, director of nursing at NHS Lothian, said: “We have seen a steady rise in the number of children and young people accessing mental health services in recent years. Many patients are unfortunately waiting longer than we would like, which is why we are implementing a range of measures address this issue.

“We are looking at how we can work with schools, colleges and universities and have created a number of special clinics, including some evening appointments, for those who have waited the longest. In the last year we have also recruited eight new psychological therapists and introduced some pioneering trials to help transform the way some services are delivered.”